You Can Always Talk To Me
by The Teal Dragon
Summary: Insight into the next-to-final scene in Season 3, episode 4, He Said She Said. Please Read and Review! Constructive Criticism welcome!


You Can Always Talk To Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Boy Meets World or any characters associated with BMW.

A/N: Hello, readers! This is a short fic that's basically just my insight into the scene in Season 3, episode 4, "He Said, She Said" where Jon finds Shawn at the bus station and they have a long talk. Please Read and Review! Constructive Criticism is welcomed, because this is by no means my last BMW fanfic.

Jonathan Turner entered the bus station in a complete panic, searching frantically for a glimpse of fifteen- year-old Shawn Hunter. The feeling of terror he experienced when Shawn ran away from their home was not unfamiliar to him, but it never got any easier to deal with. Jon was terrified about what would happen to the rebellious teenager if he didn't catch him. It was something he tried not to think about, but the images still overwhelmed him whenever Shawn ran away. He turned his gaze from left to right, but didn't see him.

Suddenly, he spotted him, sitting on a bench talking to an elderly homeless man. He sighed, relieved. "Thank God," he thought, his whole body relaxing.

"Ohh…" Jon exhaled. Shawn heard the familiar sound and turned around to face him on the bench. "Hunter, you're still here." The pure relief he felt echoed in every syllable. Shawn was safe. Now came the difficult part…getting him to come back to their place and stay there.

Shawn wasn't quite as happy to see him. "Jon, how'd you find me?" He was clearly upset, but not very surprised. Some part of him knew that his best friend, Cory, might tell Turner that he was taking off. That's why Shawn didn't tell Cory exactly where he was going. But Turner figured it out somehow. How did Jon always manage to find him before he could get away?

"Easy." Jon replied. It wasn't easy at all. He nearly had a heart attack when Cory told him Shawn took off. But he wasn't going to make Shawn think that he nearly lost him. "Once I figured out where you were going, I figured... Shawn Hunter, Europe... bus." The fact that Shawn didn't really think things through very well when he was excited, combined with his ignorance of geographical details, made Jon think that Shawn would use the bus as his method of transportation.

Shawn looked up at Jon, his excitement showing clearly now. "And I'm going. Here's my ticket. Next stop – Paris!" He held up the piece of paper for Jon to see.

Jon took the ticket from him and read the information printed. "Paris, Texas?" He pointed out, showing Shawn and handing back the ticket while he smiled affectionately at the boy.

Shawn was clearly disappointed as he studied the ticket. "Oh. I thought the TX meant tax…" He had been in such a rush that he hadn't been thinking clearly. That happened quite a bit when Shawn was upset or excited about something important.

Jon shook his head. "Look, I don't know what Ms. Collins told you, but running away is not the answer." He knew that Shawn was upset about many of the things that had happened in his young life, but he didn't understand why Shawn kept pushing him away. That's why he had sent Shawn to the guidance counselor in the first was clearly a stupid decision. Jon knew that it wasn't her fault that Shawn ran away, but he was scared and pissed off, and he blamed her for giving Shawn the idea in the first place.

Shawn smiled and rolled his eyes in the typical teenager fashion that Jon had become way too familiar with in the past few months. He pulled a few coins from his pocket and walked toward the soda machine, Jon following close behind. "Jon, I'm not running away." He spoke as if Jon should know that Shawn trying to catch a bus to a foreign country without telling anyone but Cory where he was going was obviously not at all misleading. "I'm finally going someplace, doing something with my life, you know. I could ski the Alps, or even go to Spain and chase the bulls."

"Uh, actually, they chase you." Jon corrected him, smiling.

"Then who needs Spain? Europe's a big town, I'm sure there's tons of cool stuff I can do." Shawn said with a grin. He grabbed his soda from the machine.

Jon smiled at the teenager's mistakes and followed him back to the bench. "This is a big step. How come you didn't come and talk to me about it?" He asked Shawn as he sat down on the bench with him.

Shawn glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Well, you know, Jon, you're busy. You've got your own stuff going on." Jon noticed the quiet tone that Shawn adapted in serious situations was now present.

"That doesn't mean I don't care about what's happening in your life." Shawn stopped rummaging through his bag and froze at the use of the word 'care'. They were in mostly uncharted territory now.

"Yeah, I –I know you care about me. I know that inside you're like my buddy and all." Shawn stated quietly, a little unsure of himself. 'Inside?' Jon thought. Maybe he needed to ease up a bit on the kid.

"Well, yeah, you're my buddy too, y'know?" He spoke softly in a reassuring way. Shawn looked away. "But it's more than that, Shawn; I'm responsible for you." He was completely responsible for this child's well-being. That was an important task, and one he feared messing up.

Shawn sighed. "Jon, give yourself a break." Jon blinked in surprise. "It's not like you're my dad." The way he said it was as if he felt sad for himself, but exasperated by Jon's determination to care about him.

Jon thought about that for a second. He loved this kid. He was hard on him, but sometimes Shawn needed tough love. Jon taught him important lessons, both in class and in life. He watched the Phillie's game with him and checked over his homework and gave him an allowance. He cooked for him and comforted him when he had nightmares. He was protective of the kid and worried about him as if he were his own son, but biologically speaking…"No, I guess I'm not."

"And I'm cool with that." Shawn kept going as if Jon had never said anything, too upset to actually listen. "I mean, I'm used to being on my own-," His voice cracked with emotion. He was trying not to cry in public like he did when he had his nightmares. "-and it's – it's made me realize that I gotta look out for myself." He bit down on his lip, trying to remember what his father taught him about crying making people weak.

Jonathan waited quietly for Shawn to collect himself, his own heart breaking as he tried to be strong for the teenager. Shawn wasn't done yet.

"So see you later. Thanks for the roof." He said coolly, giving Jon a curt nod. He started to walk away, but Jon's firm voice called him back.

"Shawn!" Jonathan called out, his voice ringing out across the bus station. "Get back here." He said firmly, his voice booking no arguments. Shawn turned around, rolling his eyes at the fatherly rebuke. "You're not going anywhere." He said, calmly but definitively.

"I'm going to Europe." Shawn stated stubbornly.

"No, you're going to Texas." Jon countered, smiling fondly at him. "Shawn, come on, you're fifteen years old, you got no money, and you have no idea what you're getting yourself into." He told the teenager, ever the voice of reason in the chaos of Shawn's plans. "You think there's a chance that I'm right?"

Shawn rolled his eyes again, looking away from him. "I don't know." He said, his voice clearly showing that he knew Jon was right but was too proud to admit it.

"You're coming home with me, where you belong. Okay?" Shawn squinted suspiciously at the words 'home' and 'belong', obviously thinking that he had no home and he didn't belong anywhere. He was wrong.

"Look, if you really want to go to Europe…" He paused, trying to think of the words to verbalize the idea that he had gotten earlier that day. "…we'll go together. Next summer."

Shawn gave Jon an evaluating look, then smiled happily. "I could see that working."

"But only if you start going to class and getting those grades up. Okay?" Jon said, a little louder and more forcefully than he meant to. Shawn stepped back and hung his head in shame. Jon scolded himself for scaring the kid. He made sure his next words were softer. "Now come on," he said, smiling at Shawn. "You've got a history test to make up."

"Hey, kid!" They looked over to see who was speaking to Shawn. It was the elderly homeless man that was talking to Shawn as Jon came in. Had he been listening to their conversation the whole time? He held what looked like one of Feeny's gift baskets in one hand and shook his finger at Shawn with the other. "You listen to your dad!" He spoke as firmly as Jon had earlier.

Shawn looked back at Jon, squinting while he thought. Jon grinned at him, a twinkle in his eye. He felt a bit of pride being mistaken for the kid's father. He waited for Shawn to correct the old man. But much to his surprise, Shawn just grinned back at Jon. "Yeah… I think I'm gonna." He handed the elderly man his ticket and he and Jon walked out together. It was time to go home, where they both belonged.

A/N: There we go people, my insight on the second-to-last scene in "He Said She Said" Season 3, episode 4 of Boy Meets World. Please Read and Review! Constructive Criticism welcome.


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